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<title>Why Use BirdEye?</title>
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<H1><FONT face=Tahoma size=3>Why Use BirdEye?</FONT></H1>
<DIV><FONT face=Tahoma size=2><EM>Concepts:</EM></FONT> </DIV>
<P id=""><FONT face=Tahoma size=2></FONT><FONT size=2><FONT 
face=Tahoma><STRONG>BirdEye</STRONG> is a <STRONG>Link Analysis</STRONG> 
tool.&nbsp; Link analysis is a&nbsp;method of exploring associations between 
objects. Link analysis provides&nbsp;visibility of the&nbsp;relationships and 
associations between&nbsp;objects of different types that are not apparent from 
isolated pieces of information.<BR><BR>The basic steps and usage of BirdEye are 
as follows:<BR><BR><EM>Adding Data</EM><BR><BR>1.)&nbsp; Create "nodes" which 
may be persons, places, things, events, or any other object of interest.&nbsp; 
Use the data entry interface to indentify and describe graph 
objects.<BR>2.)&nbsp; Create links or "edges" between nodes based on an 
association type such as friend, associate, member of, etc.<BR><BR>Objects 
created through the data entry interface are stored in a <U>SQLite 
database</U>.<BR><BR><EM>Visualization<BR></EM></FONT></FONT>
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  <LI><FONT face=Tahoma size=2>A number of common graph layouts are provided to 
  enable the best fit for a particular data set.&nbsp; Each layout includes a 
  number of controls to "tweak" the parameters of the algorithm.</FONT></LI>
  <LI><FONT face=Tahoma size=2>Hierarchical Node Spacing:&nbsp; controls the 
  spacing between siblings which when used in conjunction with <EM>Sibling 
  Spread</EM> can help optimize a Hierarchical graph.</FONT></LI>
  <LI><FONT face=Tahoma size=2>Layout angle is used in both the Parent-Centered 
  and Phyllo layouts to control the geometry of the layout.</FONT></LI>
  <LI><FONT face=Tahoma size=2>Several controls are provided which are 
  applicable to all layouts:</FONT></LI>
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    <LI><FONT face=Tahoma size=2>Degrees of Separation - used to control the 
    distance of the relationships you want to view, e.g. friend of friend of 
    friend. </FONT>
    <LI><FONT face=Tahoma size=2>Scaling and Zoom are helpful for large graphs 
    where changing node size or magnifying the canvas space is 
    needed.</FONT></LI>
    <LI><FONT face=Tahoma size=2>Autofit will automatically plot the graph to 
    within the bounds of the view space.</FONT></LI>
    <LI><FONT face=Tahoma size=2>History will show breadcrumbs of nodes 
    visited.</FONT></LI></OL>
  <LI><FONT face=Tahoma size=2>Refresh!&nbsp; Important - refresh will make user 
  initiated calls to the database to load new data.&nbsp; This does not happen 
  automatically so as not to destroy works in progress.</FONT></LI></UL>
<P><FONT face=Tahoma size=2>Have fun!</FONT></P>
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  <OL type=1></LI></OL></UL>
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